AUGUST 11, 1944

HYDE PARK, Thursday—A rather interesting suggestion has been sent me which concerns the wives of servicemen going to visit their husbands in crowded areas. The person writing me says that too often people do not carry adequate identification with them, and this leads to many difficulties.

For instance, my correspondent says that wives of servicemen might be picked up by the police, and if they have no means of identification they might find themselves in difficult situations. Besides, in cases of illness or accident or financial distress, or even if they were looking for a job, some form of identification must be produced.

One could carry a marriage certificate or a photostatic copy of it; letters indicating the receipt of allotments, or a dispensary card issued by the armed services could be carried. A social security card, a license containing a picture or fingerprints, ration books—anything, in fact, which will show that you are the person you claim to be, will sometimes save you a great deal of inconvenience and trouble.

It was a great pleasure the other day to take Miss Marian Anderson, Mrs. Robert L. Van of Pittsburgh, and Miss Agnes Lee, who is teaching at the Horace Mann-Lincoln School this summer, and one or two others over to the Wiltwyck School. That evening Miss Charl Williams came to spend the night and to discuss the White House arrangements for a rural education conference which several groups are planning to call in the early autumn. I am much interested in the good that may come from bringing together, at the present time, a conference of this kind.

Yesterday we had our annual picnic for the Hudson Shore Labor School, and some 37 people came over, arriving by bus and taxi. Transportation in these days requires more and more planning, but I was glad they did not have to give up the party, because it has become one of the things I count on every summer. I enjoy the opportunity to talk with the girls who are trying to train themselves to be better leaders in their respective industries.

I have just learned of a committee formed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to advocate that Sidney Lanier have a place in the Hall of Fame in New York City. I read of it in the Southern Literary Messenger, and I hope for the success of this effort, since Sidney Lanier has always seemed to me one of the outstanding literary figures in our history. He labored under great difficulties and was not only one of our finest poets, but the greatest American flute player of his day, and a man of almost Christ-like character.